A Research On The Soft Politics In Aristophanes’ Comedies

The city-states of ancient Greece practice a typical friendship politics,which is what Aristotle called “friendships of utility”.This political system,with homosexual love as its focal point and utility as the starting point,has inevitably caused a lot of harm to the polis.As a great comedian in ancient Greece,Aristophanes found the problem of friendship politics,and tried to save the city-states from violence and restore its virtue.This paper mainly studies the relationship between love and politics in Aristophanes’ comedies from three aspects,and discusses the possibility of soft politics.In the first chapter,the author mainly discusses the phenomenon of “unsoftness” of homosexual love in city-state politics,its political consequences and the roots thereof.In Aristophanes’ comedies,homosexual love may help the ancient Greek male to pursue honor,whereas its destructiveness should not be underestimated.And it is necessary to always be vigilant against the “unsoftness” in homosexual love.On the one hand,homosexual love is based on the pursuit of child relations,hence it may easily lead to radical politics;on the other hand,because homosexual love eliminates femininity and tends to be “homeless politics”,it is extremely easy to cause repression and violence,thus damaging families and city-states.The second chapter researches on the phenomenon of “softness” of heterosexual love in city-state politics,its political consequences and the roots thereof.After realizing the destructiveness of homosexual love and the friendship politics it constructed,Aristophanes turned to heterosexual love and the natural politics it constructed for help.Heterosexual love may also be mixed with destructiveness,but the “softness” it contained,as a constructive force,can help to alleviate the violence of homosexual love,and build a broader political connection with the help of love in the private field.On the one hand,full of femininity,heterosexual love often emphasizes the common interests of both genders rather than exclusive interests,so the politics it constructs is much softer;on the other hand,the “family-city” model that heterosexual love and its politics lay stress on is not an opposing dual-structure model,which helps to achieve a win-win situation between the family and the city-state.The third part explores the “softness” in Aristophanes’ comedies and the ideal city-state it tries to build.First of all,Aristophane’s “softness” originates from his weariness of violent order or war.Therefore,the poet strongly calls for peace,especially the peace of justice.He believes that the stability of the city-state is conducive to the cultivation of citizens’ virtue and the maintenance of the integrity of the city-state.Secondly,the “softness” of Aristophanes is based on his dissatisfaction with the Athenian political system,and Pesteiros,a character in The Birds who left to embark on a journey for searching is the best example.Therefore,like Euripides,the poet longs for the existence of “the state of Fanjing”,the peaceful coexistence between Athens and other city-states,and the construction of a universal soft community.Finally,Aristophanes’ “softness” also comes from his resentment of injustice,hence the poet plays the role of educator to call for justice.He yearns not only for the strict law in public affairs,but also the compensation for the city-states’ strictness with the help of softness or tolerance.The conclusion summarizes the positive value of Aristophanes’ political ideal to the construction of a political community with a shared future.